USPTO Patents Application 10756827

United States Patent and Trademark Office

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
United States Patent and Trademark Office
Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS
P.O. Box 1450

Alexandria, Virginia 223 1 3- 1450
www.usptO.gov

APPLICATION NO.

FILING DATE

FIRST NAMED INVENTOR

ATTORNEY DOCKET NO.

CONFIRMATION NO.

10/756,827

01/14/2004

Yoshio Miyamoto

38834 7590 06/01/2005

WESTERMAN, HATTOR1, DANIELS & ADRIAN, LLP
1250 CONNECTICUT AVENUE, NW
SUITE 700

WASHINGTON, DC 20036

042018

2379

EXAMINER

TRIEU, VAN THANH

ART UNIT

PAPER NUMBER

2636

DATE MAILED: 06/01/2005

Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding.

PTO-90C (Rev. 10/03)

Office Action Summary

Application No.

10/756,827

Applicant(s)

MIYAMOTO ETAL

Examiner

Van T. Trieu

Art Unit

2636

The MAILING DATE of this communication appears on the cover sheet with the correspondence address »
Period for Reply

A SHORTENED STATUTORY PERIOD FOR REPLY IS SET TO EXPIRE 3 MONTH(S) FROM
THE MAILING DATE OF THIS COMMUNICATION.

- Extensions of time may be available under the provisions of 37 CFR 1 . 1 36(a). In no event, however, may a reply be timely filed
after SIX (6) MONTHS from the mailing date of this communication.

- If the period for reply specified above is less than thirty (30) days, a reply within the statutory minimum of thirty (30) days will be considered timely.

- If NO period for reply is specified above, the maximum statutory period will apply and will expire SIX (6) MONTHS from the mailing date of this communication.

- Failure to reply within the set or extended period for reply will, by statute, cause the application to become ABANDONED (35 U.S.C. § 1 33).
Any reply received by the Office later than three months after the mailing date of this communication, even if timely filed, may reduce any
earned patent term adjustment. See 37 CFR 1.704(b).

Status

1 )K Responsive to communication(s) filed on 14 January 2004 .
2a)D This action is FINAL. 2b)S This action is non-final.

3) D Since this application is in condition for allowance except for formal matters, prosecution as to the merits is

closed in accordance with the practice under Ex parte Quayle, 1935 CD. 1 1 , 453 O.G. 213.

Disposition of Claims

4) ^ Claim(s) 1^8 is/are pending in the application.

4a) Of the above claim(s) is/are withdrawn from consideration.

5) ^ Claim(s) 7 and 8 is/are allowed.

6) [X] Claim(s) 1 and 3-6 is/are rejected.

7) [3 Claim(s) 2 is/are objected to.

8) D Claim(s) are subject to restriction and/or election requirement.

Application Papers

9) D The specification is objected to by the Examiner.

10) D The drawing(s) filed on is/are: a)D accepted or b)D objected to by the Examiner.

Applicant may not request that any objection to the drawing(s) be held in abeyance. See 37 CFR 1.85(a).
Replacement drawing sheet(s) including the correction is required if the drawing(s) is objected to. See 37 CFR 1.121(d).

1 1) D The oath or declaration is objected to by the Examiner. Note the attached Office Action or form PTO-152.

Priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119

12) M Acknowledgment is made of a claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. § 1 19(a)-(d) or (f).
a)M All b)D Some * c)D None of:

1 M Certified copies of the priority documents have been received.

2. D Certified copies of the priority documents have been received in Application No. .

3. D Copies of the certified copies of the priority documents have been received in this National Stage

application from the International Bureau (PCT Rule 17.2(a)).
* See the attached detailed Office action for a list of the certified copies not received.

Attachment(s)

1 ) |3 Notice of References Cited (PTO-892)

2) O Notice of Draftsperson's Patent Drawing Review (PTO-948)

3) [3 Information Disclosure Statement(s) (PTO-1449 or PTO/SB/08)

Paper No(s)/Mail Date 4/2904 .

4) O Interview Summary (PTO-413)

Paper No(s)/Mail Date. .

5) D Notice of Informal Patent Application (PTO-152)

6) □ Other: .

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
PTOL-326 (Rev. 1-04)

Office Action Summary

Part of Paper No./Mail Date May2005

Application/Control Number: 10/756,827 <, Page 2

Art Unit: 2636

DETAILED ACTION

Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102

The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that
form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless -

(b) the invention was patented or described in a printed publication in this or a foreign country or in public
use or on sale in this country, morethan one year prior to the date of application for patent in the United
States.

1 . Claims 1 and 3-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(b) as being anticipated by
Partio etal[US 6,021,150].

Regarding claim 1 , the claimed an electronic digital pressure switch for detecting a gas
pressure and generating an output, comprising: a housing that has a ventilating portion
allowing a gas to pass there through (the discharge chamber containing laser gas and
electronic that regulate a function of the laser housed within a baffle enclosure by a gas
sensor 330, a temperature sensor 600, pressure sensitive switch and indicator to
monitor pressure and shut-off the laser. The baffle enclosure includes an upper and
lower solid panels 21 0, which have holes or slots for allowing air flows through much of
the enclosure for ventilating, removing or sweeping out biologically-incompatible gases
that may leak within the interior of the enclosure, see Figs. 2 and 6, col. 4, lines 42-52,
col. 5, lines 62-67, col. 6, lines 16-28 and 44-50, col. 7, lines 24-27, col. 8, lines 38-56,
col. 10, lines 49-55 and col. 11, lines 29-32).

Application/Control Number: 10/756,827 Page 3

Art Unit: 2636

Regarding claim 3, the claimed ventilation portions are at both upper and lower portions
of the housing (the holes or slots in both upper and lower panels 210, see Fig. 1).

Regarding claim 4, the contact output that turns ON/OFF according to detected
pressure and that allows ON and OFF values to be set (the control electronic 150 allows
to set of pressure and flow rate desired values, and to turn ON/OFF the layer according
to the detected pressure level, see Fig. 1, col. 6, lines 9-15, col. 7, lines 1 1-27, col. 8,
lines 48-56 and col. 10, lines 14-55); and the display means, which reads upon the
control electronic 150 to provide indicating of detected temperature, pressure, flow
volume, on/off valve and ON/OFF laser conditions, see Fig. 1, col. 7, lines 11-27 and
col. 10, lines 35-55.; and the analog output that changes its output values according to
detected pressure (the temperature and/or pressure sensor outputs analog signals, see
col. 7, lines 24-67 and col. 9, lines 48-50).

Regarding claim 5, the claimed plurality of the contact outputs, which read upon the
control electronic 150 comprising more than one contact outputs for controlling and
indicating the status of on/off valve, on/off laser and switches, see Figs. 1 , 6 and 9.

Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103

The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all

obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:

(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set
forth in section 1 02 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and
the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the

Application/Control Number: 10/756,827 Page 4

Art Unit: 2636

invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains.
Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.

This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of

the claims under 35 U.S.C. 103(a), the examiner presumes that the subject matter of

the various claims was commonly owned at the time any inventions covered therein

were made absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation

under 37 CFR 1 .56 to point out the inventor and invention dates of each claim that was

not commonly owned at the time a later invention was made in order for the examiner to

consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 103(c) and potential 35 U.S.C. 102(e), (f) or (g)

prior art under 35 U.S.C. 103(a).

2. Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 1 03(a) as being unpatentable over Partio et
al [US 6,021 ,150] in view of Rocci, Jr. et al [US 5,676,129].
Regarding claim 6, Partio et al fails to disclose delay time can be set for the contact
output or the contact outputs. However, Partio et al teaches that the control electronic
150 includes a microprocessor for manually and/or automatically controlling and
indicating statuses/conditions of the detected temperature, pressure, flow volume, on/off
valve and ON/OFF laser conditions, see Fig. 1 , col. 6, lines 5-1 5, col. 7, lines 1 1-27, col.
10, lines 35-55 and col. 1 1 , lines 29-51 . Rocci, Jr. et al suggests that a microprocessor
14 is programmed to display the remaining doses, the elapse time and a predetermined
delay time period for providing reliability detect a pressure pulse by a miniature pressure
sensor 12, ON/OFF values and displaying on a display 15, see Figs. 1-8, col. 5, lines
26-67 and col. 6, lines 1-67. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one skill in the
art at the time the invention was made substitute the microprocessor programmable

Application/Control Number: 10/756,827 Page 5

Art Unit: 2636

functions of Rocci Jr., et al for the microprocessor controller of Partio et al because
the microprocessor is a digital electronic device having memories, which can be
programmed to execute a different operation functions such as delaying time for
providing a higher detecting pressure outputs.

Conclusion

3. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to
applicant's disclosure.

Watson et al discloses a laser discharging chamber that includes ventilating panels for
weeping out of undesired gases within the chamber according to the pressure switch.
[US 5,748,656]

Zheng et al discloses a modular gas control device for use with a compressed gas
cylinder comprising a pressure sensor and a ventilating system within a gas cabinet or
housing for ventilate of the leakage gases. [US 6,31 4,986]
Campell discloses a method of sensing a ventilation failure measures a ventilation
cycle and if the pressure is not maintained throughout the whole of an inspiration period
above the setting for the low datum point an alarm is signaled. [US 5,640,149
Sagimiya discloses switch device for pressure switch displays data about high level of
setting values used to turn switch ON and OFF of switch. [JP 2001 1 168701 A]

4.

Claims 7 and 8 are allowable over the prior art.

Application/Control Number: 10/756,827

Page 6

Art Unit: 2636

5. Claims 2 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but
would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the
base claim and any intervening claims.

6. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from

J

examiner should be directed to primary examiner Van Trieu whose telephone number
is (571) 272-2972. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Fri from 7:00 AM to
3:00 PM.

If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's
supervisor, Mr. Jeffery Hofsass can be reached on (571 ) 272-2981 .

Van Trieu
Primary Examiner
Date: 5/26/05